Federal Government to introduce changes to regulations for overseas adoptions

The changes will make it easier and faster for couples to adopt children from Taiwan, South Korea and Ethiopia.

Twitter: Chiara Passerini, file photo

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will slash court processes for some Australian couples trying to adopt children from overseas, in the first of a potential series of changes aimed at making overseas adoptions faster and easier.

Under the current system, couples adopting children from countries which have not signed up to The Hague Convention can wait up to 12 months for final approvals from Australian courts.

Mr Abbott will introduce changes that will apply to three countries that are not formal signatories to the convention but have bilateral agreements with Australia.

Ethiopia, Taiwan and South Korea will be listed so that full adoptions will be recognised automatically in Australia.

Official data says 40 per cent of inter-country adoptions in Australia were from Taiwan and South Korea in 2012-13.

"At the moment, if you adopt from those countries, you not only have court processes overseas, you've got court processes here in Australia," Mr Abbott told Channel Nine.

"We're going to cut that red tape out so it's going to make it much, much easier for dozens of families every year to adopt from South Korea and Taiwan."